Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1904 — HINTS FOR FARMERS [ARTICLE]

HINTS FOR FARMERS

ProSt la Poultry. With a fifty acre farm, one-half devoted to poultry culture and the other to the raising of grain, a man can with one hired assistant clear more money in a year than he could had he w-orked a section of land for all it was worth. He can grow- fowls—chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese—both for eggs and meat, and with our rapidly growing population and the consequent increasing demand there will never be a time when a young chicken will beg for a place in- the market at from 25 to 30 cents. On the contrary, the market will beg for the fowls at prices from 25 to 50 per cent higher. Poultry is as sure a crop as any that may be grown on the farm. True, you may have cholera or some other troublesome disease, and your flock may be greatly reduced, but are not droughts and cyclones likely to play equally as much havoc with growing crops?— Ohio Poultry Journal. To Dissolve Bones For Fertiliser. Farm and in answer to the inquiry as to the best method of dissolving bones for farm fertilizers, says: Without expensive machinery sulphuric acid cannot be used to dissolve bones and prepare them as a fertilizer for farm crops. Instead of this, substitute unbleached ashes and dissolve bones almost entirely in the following manner: Put down a layer of bones six inches thick in a circular form. Cover these with strong wood ashes six inches deep and on this another layer of bones until a depth of three or four feet has been reached. Keep this pile thoroughly moist for some six or eight w-eeks, and at the end of this time the ashes, will have dissolved a large per cent of the phosphoric acid and lime contained in the bones. LiWe For Fowls. The best way to give lime to fowls Is in the form of bones, either fresh or finely broken or burned and in ash. Then the lime will be digested easily and supply the needs of the fowls healthfully. And, as all animals that feed on vegetable food need salt to refresh the gastric fluid and restore the wastes of the body, this is the best and most safely given in small quantities with the food every day. Salt in excess is a most acrid poison. —Farmer's Advocate. Handling Hogi. A test was made recently on two loads of hogs numbering 121 hogs. They were weighed Just as they came from the cars before feeding or watering, After being sold, fed and watered they were reweighed and showed a gain of 890 pounds over and above the first weights. The owner of the hogs did not know this test was made. Country shippers who think hogs do not gain when properly handled should “paste this in their hat.”—Chicago Live Stock World. The Beat Garden Manure. The best manure for the garden is that obtained from the barnyard. Some farmers consider horse manure worth twice as much as that of the cow or pig. Experience shows that few crops draw more heavily on the soil than vegetables. This is explained from the fact that sometimes two or more crops are taken from the same garden in one season; therefore it does not pay to stint on fertilizers.—American Agriculturist. The 'Vain a hie Sheep. Sheep excrement is one of the richest and most valuable fertilizers which can be applied to growing crops, and the animal which makes it brings in many other valuable returns for the feed and care bestowed upon it. The carcass and the fleece are, under ordinary conditions, sources of considerable income to the farmer, and the animal is almost indispensable in subduing fine lands.—Farmer’s Advocate. Bran as Hog Feed. Bran is not a very satisfactory ration for pigs, says American Agriculturist. It carries a large amount of protein, but it also contains a lot of fibrous which the pigs cannot utilize. It Is better to feed bran to cows and to buy middlings for pigs. Feed For Wool. Wool is a product from feeding, Just the same as fat is or flesh, and the flock should be fed with a view to wool growth and that of fine quality.